An inexpensive weapon made elaborate armor a deadly liability rather than protection.

Evidence

Seventy years later, Agincourt ended the same way. Although the French outnumbered the English by five to one, their numerical advantage vanished in showers of metal-tipped arrows, as piles of bodies tripped up knights in the fray. Unhorsed and stuck in the mud, fully armored knights proved easy prey. The peasants they detested and ignored in traditional battles shot them point-blank with arrows, and what had been the ultimate protection before—magnificent armor untouchable by the masses—become a deadly liability. An inexpensive new weapon made elaborate armor obsolete. — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 430

Categorization

• XREF: Weapon reversal for humans — heavy armor, like enormous animal weapons, becomes a trap once cheap cheating tactics appear. — connects to: Cheap long-range weapons eroded the battlefield value of expensive armor. — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 425; Weapon-poor insurgents compensated with deception and improvised protective gear; Each advance in weapon metallurgy forced a corresponding advance in protective armor — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 59 (+1 more)

Related

• Cheap long-range weapons eroded the battlefield value of expensive armor. (similarity 0.89)
• Cheap weapons let untrained commoners overcome heavily armored elites (similarity 0.83)
• Each advance in weapon metallurgy forced a corresponding advance in protective armor (similarity 0.82)
• Armor evolution tracks a benefit-cost trade-off identical to that shaping animal weaponry (similarity 0.82)
• Cheap asymmetric weapons can topple vastly more expensive military investments. (similarity 0.80)
• Cheap weapons can disable the most expensive military technologies (similarity 0.80)
• Weapon expense is what keeps signals of fighting ability honest (similarity 0.80)
• Cheap weapons of mass destruction will erode expensive conventional forces (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• Cheap long-range weapons eroded the battlefield value of expensive armor. #corroborates (0.85) — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 425
• Cheap weapons let untrained commoners overcome heavily armored elites #exemplifies (0.80)
• Weapon-poor insurgents compensated with deception and improvised protective gear #exemplifies (0.60)
• Each advance in weapon metallurgy forced a corresponding advance in protective armor #contradicts (0.60) — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 59